This Thursday (August 8, 2019), at 8:00pm: get an earful of improvised goodness as Eris 136199 (Han-earl Park: guitar; Catherine Sikora: saxophones; and Nick Didkovsky: guitar) launch their second European mini-tour with a performance at the Vortex Jazz Club (11 Gillett Square, London N16 8AZ). It’s the first time we get to present our real-time collisions of awesome melodic logic, glitch’n’riff anthems, and systems music to London, Lisbon and Dublin. As Nick wrote before our previous tour:
I have never been able to detect any implicit rules, favorite things to do, implied directions, or aesthetic goals in this band. People start playing, they stop, start again, stop again… insofar as music is a temporal art, that’s pretty elemental behavior, and is about the only binding agreement in Eris 136199 that I have detected. Which I recognize is barely a statement, as the passage of time is inviolable in all contexts, be they free or restrictive. Physics doesn’t care. But Eris cares a lot. Time is a precious thing to Han and Catherine, and the action of scattering sound onto it is a sacred and mysterious ritual. [Read the rest…]
Am I excited? That’d be an understatement. Come and catch Eris in play, and, to quote a Jazz Noise, let the “insane brain surgeon in through your ear.” [Get tickets…] [Special offer…]
Eris 136199 is also performing…
August 11: Lisbon, Portugal; and August 12: Dublin, Ireland. [Details…]
Track listing: Therianthropy I (≥ 3:43), Therianthropy II (8:56), Therianthropy III (3:55), Therianthropy IV (6:30), Adaptive Radiation I (6:44), Adaptive Radiation II (8:48), Adaptive Radiation III (5:54), Universal Greebly (10:58), Hypnagogia I (8:03), Hypnagogia II (4:45). Total duration ≥ 68:25.
Formed in New York in 2012, Eris 136199 is the quick-reacting cyborg virtuosity of Han-earl Park (Sirene 1009), the mighty melodic imagination and big tenor sound of Catherine Sikora (Clockwork Mercury), and the diamond-cut precision and grind-meets-experimentalism of Nick Didkovsky (Doctor Nerve). Eris 136199’s music has been hailed as “a beautiful noise” (KFJC 89.7 FM) and “exquisitely constructed, spontaneously messed-up, endless depth, kind of like letting an insane brain surgeon in through your ear” (a Jazz Noise).
Eris 136199 released their second album in 2018, the eponymous Eris 136199 (BAF001, 2018), funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign. The followup to their debut Anomic Aphasia (SLAMCD 559, 2015), the album captures the trio during the 2017 European tour. In August 2019, the trio will again tour Europe, performing in Jazz em Agosto (Lisbon) as well as in London and Dublin.
Han-earl Park is the instigator and mastermind behind Eris 136199, as well as groups including Sirene 1009 (with Dominic Lash, Mark Sanders and Caroline Pugh), and co-conspirator in projects with Richard Barrett and others. Park is the constructor of the machine improviser io 0.0.1 beta++, and of Metis 9, a playbook of improvisative tactics. He has performed with Wadada Leo Smith, Paul Dunmall, Evan Parker, Lol Coxhill, Josh Sinton, Louise Dam Eckardt Jensen, Gino Robair, Tim Perkis, Andrew Drury, Pat Thomas and Franziska Schroeder. His ensembles have performed at festivals including Freedom of the City (London), Brilliant Corners (Belfast), ISIM (New York), CEAIT (Los Angeles) and Sonic Acts (Amsterdam).
Saxophonist, improviser and composer Catherine Sikora works in a broad range of settings, from highly complex composed music, to folk songs, to free improvisation. She works regularly with Eric Mingus, Enrique Haneine, Brian Chase, Han-earl Park, Stanley Zappa, Christopher Culpo and Ross Hammond, as well as actively pursuing solo performance. In recent years Sikora has toured in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia. She was a featured soloist in Eric Mingus’ radical reimagining of Tommy by the Who (Adelaide Festival 2015), and was artist in residence at the Centre Culturel Irlandais in Paris in 2014, working on a project inspired by stories from her female ancestors.
Guitarist, composer, and computer music programmer Nick Didkovsky has composed music for Kathleen Supove, Ethel, Bang on a Can All-Stars, Meridian Arts Ensemble, New Century Players, ARTE Quartett, as part of the Fred Frith Guitar Quartet, and his own bands Doctor Nerve, Vomit Fist, Häßliche Luftmasken, and others. His compositions and guitar performances appear on more than 50 records. His 2015 residency at The Stone in NYC resulted in numerous premiere performances of new works. His avant- metal big band Doctor Nerve has, over its 30 year history, released nine albums, and performed at numerous festivals including FI- MAV, Moers Festival, Musique Action, Creative Time, MIMI Festival, and ‘Whitney Live’ at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Track listing: Therianthropy I (≥ 3:43), Therianthropy II (8:56), Therianthropy III (3:55), Therianthropy IV (6:30), Adaptive Radiation I (6:44), Adaptive Radiation II (8:48), Adaptive Radiation III (5:54), Universal Greebly (10:58), Hypnagogia I (8:03), Hypnagogia II (4:45). Total duration ≥ 68:25.
Han-earl Park (guitar) as part of Improvised & Experimental No. 73. Also on the program: Simona Blahutová (sound installation), Gloria Damijan (toy piano), and Johnny Chang (viola). Donations €5–10.
[Hošek page…]
Thanks to Catherine Kirby and everyone at the National Concert Hall for able and professional assistance, to John Godfrey, Juniper Hill and Melanie L. Marshall, the then coordinators of the UCC Music Research Seminar Series, who strongly supported Wadada’s visit, and to Mary Hickson, Chris Gaughan, Peter Crudge, Eoin Winning and everyone at the Cork Opera House. Kudos to Tony O’Connor and Athos Tsiopani for the behind-the-scenes help, and to John Hough for the videography and the technical support. Thanks also to Carmel Daly and Mel Mercier of UCC School of Music; Gary Sheehan of Note Productions; Jeffrey Weeter, Paul O’Donnell and, formerly, Jesse Ronneau of the UCC Concerts Committee; and Andreas W. Ziemons, Niamh Ryan and Louise Walsh at Music Network. Thanks to David Leikam of the Arts Noticed, Linda Plover of Blue Monkey PR, Eoin Brady and Bernard Clarke of Nova, and Sandra Quinn at the Evening Echo for their support.
A big thank to the best sound engineer in the world, Alex Fiennes, for amplifying the Cork event, and making the performance sound its best! and to Melanie for the conversations and unofficial roadie duties. Kudos to Marian Murray for jumping into the deep end, a special note of thanks Paul G. Smyth for stepping-up to support this project, and to Dennis Cassidy, Fergus Cullen and Benedict Schlepper-Connolly who came to the rescue when our drum-hire situation briefly went into tail-spin.
And of course a big, big, big thanks to Charles Hayward, Ian Smith and Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith for letting me share in their skill, craft, intelligence, musicality, generosity and sense of play (and their patience with this first-time tour manager): I’ll treasure Charles’ rhythmic travels to the outer reaches of an alternative-universe Caribbean; Ian’s brave counterpoint; and the spiraling, expert stacatto precision of Wadada’s trumpet.
Last but not least, thanks to all who came to listen and witness creative music in real-time!
Expect powerful and inventive musical interactions as internationally renowned composer-improviser Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith performs with the virtuosic, cross-idiomatic ensemble Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward, Han-earl Park and Ian Smith) in Cork and Dublin, Ireland in March 2011. This two-date tour marks Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith’s first appearance in Ireland, and the Irish debut of Mathilde 253.
Hailed as “one of the most vital musicians on the planet today” (Bill Shoemaker, Coda), legendary composer, multi-instrumentalist, improviser and educator Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith has been active in creative contemporary music for over forty years. He is creator of Ankhrasmation, a systemic music language, and his music traverses traditions as diverse as the delta blues, creative world musics, American experimentalism and live-electronics. His current ensembles include the Golden Quartet (currently with Vijay Iyer, John Lindberg and Pheeroan akLaff), Silver Orchestra (with J.D. Parran, Lindberg, Okkyung Lee, Harris Eisenstadt and others), Organic (with Nels Cline, Lee, Lindberg, akLaff and others), and his compositions have been performed by ensembles including the Kronos Quartet, Da Capo Chamber Player, New Century Players, San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, Del Sol String Quartet and New York New Music Ensemble. He is faculty member, and director of the African-American Improvisational Music program, at The Herb Alpert School of Music at the California Institute of the Arts, a Guggenheim Fellow, and a longtime member of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians.
Mathilde 253 consists of the pioneering avant-rock drummer Charles Hayward (This Heat, Camberwell Now, Massacre), rising Cork-based guitarist and improviser Han-earl Park (Paul Dunmall, Kato Hideki, Stet Lab), and Irish trumpeter and mainstay of the London improvised music scene, Ian Smith (Derek Bailey, The London Improvisers Orchestra, The Gathering). Mathilde 253 was formed to explore the spontaneous mashup of avant-rock, African-American creative musics, European free improvisation and noise, and collaborates with noted improvisers such as Lol Coxhill and Pat Thomas. Guillaume Belhomme described the music of the ensemble’s eponymous debut CD, released in 2011 by Slam Productions (SLAMCD 528), as “ordered and entwining… a tapestry of choice: that of another Mathilde, of a complete beauty”.
The Dublin event will open with a solo performance by the Dublin-based Paul G. Smyth, one of Ireland’s foremost free-improvising pianist.
The events take place: Wednesday, 30 March, Half Moon Theatre (Cork Opera House, Emmet Place, Cork), 8:00 pm; and Thursday, 31 March, Kevin Barry Room (National Concert Hall, Earlsfort Terrace, Dublin) 8:30 pm.
Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith will also speak on ‘Ankhrasmation: A Systemic Music Language for Creative Music’ as part of the UCC Music Research Seminar Series. The talk is free, open to the public, and takes place at the UCC Music Building (Sundays Well, Cork) at 2:00 pm on 30 March.
Stet Lab featuring Stephen Davis (drums) with Han-earl Park (guitar), plus Helena Reilly (voice), Kevin Terry (guitar) and Dan Walsh (drums).
Admission: €10/5.
[Details…]
February 15, 2011
The Lamp Tavern
Barford Street
Birmingham B5, England
Bar & Co.
Temple Pier
Embankment
London WC2R, England
8:30pm
(doors: 8:45pm)
Boat-ting presents a performance by Mathilde 253 (Charles Hayward (drums, percussion and melodica), Han-earl Park (guitar) and Ian Smith (trumpet and flugelhorn)) with Lol Coxhill (saxophone). Also performing are Sharon Gal (voice), Alex Ward (guitar) and Steve Noble (drums); Red Start (Noel Taylor (clarinet), Benedict Taylor (viola) and Noura Sanatian (violin)); and Sibylline Sisters (Sibyl Madrigal (poetry), Aromorel Weston (voice) and Kay Grant (voice)). Admission: £6/4.
[Details…]
[facebook event…]
March 2011
The Netherlands
I’m looking for performance opportunities in The Netherlands mid-March 2011. Interested promoters, venues and sponsors, please get in touch!
